Elevator control system

ABSTRACT

In an elevator control system comprising a plurality of elevator cars serving a plurality of floors wherein a hall call generated is registered, so that a car ready to answer that hall call is selected and operatively connected with a guide lamp for informing the waiting prospective passenger which of the cars was selected, the improvements wherein the registration of the hall call is not cancelled but maintained in the event that a car other than the car which was made ready to answer the hall call arrives earlier and is decelerated to serve that floor from which that hall call was originated, the hall call registration being cancelled only when the car indicated by the guide lamp is decelerated to serve the floor.

United States Patent [1 1 Iwasaka et al.

[4 1 Sept. 2, 1975 ELEVATOR CONTROL SYSTEM [73] Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.,Japan [22] Filed: Nov. 9, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 414,353

Primary ExaminerRobert K. Schaefer Assistant Examiner-W. E. DuncansonJr. Attorney, Agent, or FirmCraig & Antonelli [5 7 ABSTRACT In anelevator control system comprising a plurality of elevator cars servinga plurality of floors wherein a hall call generated is registered, sothat a car ready to answer that hall call is selected and operativelyconnected with a guide lamp for informing the waiting prospectivepassenger which of the cars was selected, the improvements wherein theregistration of the hall call is not cancelled but maintained in theevent that a car other than the car which was made ready to answer thehall call arrives earlier and is decelerated to serve that floor fromwhich that hall call was origihated, the hall call registration beingcancelled only when the car indicated by the guide lamp is deceleratedto serve the floor.

8 Claims, 15 Drawing Figures curB our C [30] Foreign ApplicationPriority Data Nov. 20, 1972 Japan 47-1 15525 [52] US. Cl 187/29 R [51]Int. Cl. B66B 3/00 [58] Field of Search 187/29 [56] References CitedUNITED STATES PATENTS 3,474,885 lO/l969 Hall et al. 187/29 3,739,8806/1973 Robaszkiewicz 187/29 curA IO N

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PATENTED SEP 2 ELEVATOR CONTROL SYSTEM The present invention relates toan improved elevator control system effectively used with an elevatorsystem comprising a plurality of elevator cars serving a plurality offloors.

In common practice, when a hall call button is depressed by a waitingprospective passenger. a lamp incorporated in the hall call button isturned on to inform the prospective passenger of the registration of thehall call, which is maintained effective until it is cancelled by thearrival of any one of the cars to serve the floor. This is advantageousin preventing troublesome repetition of the operation of the hall callbutton on one hand and a plurality of cars from serving one hall call.

The prospective passenger. on the other hand, is not sure which of thecars is ready to answer the hall call, because it is impossible topredict at the time of generation of the hall call which of the carsactually arrives first at the floor from which the hall call wasoriginated.

The increased recent demand for improved car ser vice has led to theefforts of those skilled in the art to develop a system for informing aprospective passenger earlier which of the cars is ready to serve him.In such a system, the operating condition of each car is de tected ateach moment so as to select early a car which is capable of serving mostefficiently a hall call which has been generated. A guide lamp providedon the landing of the floor from which the hall call was originated isturned on to inform the prospective passenger of the expected earliestarrival of the car to serve him. The availability of this earlyinformation on the firstarriving car enables the prospective passengerto move into position in front of the door for that particular car earlyenough to prepare himself to take that car, thus eliminating the needfor watching the movement of all of the remaining cars.

It was already mentioned that the hall call is maintained effective onlyuntil the arrival of any one of the cars, and the shortcoming of theabove-mentioned elevator control system has proved to be aninconvenience which often occurs at rush hours when a car other than thecar the service of which was indicated to the prospective passenger isdecelerated to stop at that calling floor by a cage call, in spite ofthe fact that a hall call is not transmitted to any car other than theindicated car.

When the car other than the car indicated by the guide lamp servesearlier the floor from which the hall call was originated, theregistration of the hall call from that floor is cancelledinconvcniently, with the result that the particular car selected forindication on the guide lamp passes by the floor without beingdecelerated for serving the floor. This has so far been considcred to beinstrumental in improved efficiency in car service. saving wastefulstoppage of cars. The failure of the car selected for indication on theguide lamp to serve the floor where the prospective passenger waswaiting, however, causes not only the confusion of the prospectivepassenger but is a discredit to the guide lamp. The problem becomes evenmore serious when the car which has arrived earlier is situated fartherthan the landings adjacent to the landing to which the prospectivepassenger was moved by the indication on the guide lamp. In such a case,the prospective passenger, if he fails to take the car that has arrivedat his floor earlier, must take trouble to depress the hall call buttonagain. thus offsetting the expected advantage of efficient car serviceby reduction of the number of times cars stop.

An object of the present invention is to provide an elevator controlsystem which enhances the reliability of the guide lamp for informingprospective passengers which of the cars is going to answer the hallcalls from them, thereby improving car service to them.

Another object of the invention is provide an elevator control systemwhich eliminates wasteful deceleration and stoppage of cars for improvedoperation thereof.

One of the features of the invention lies in that the registration of ahall call from a landing of a floor is cancelled only when that carwhich is indicated on the guide lamp at that landing of the floor toserve the same floor is decelerated to stop thereat.

Another feature of the invention is that the registration of a hall callfrom a landing of a floor is cancelled only when the car indicated onthe guide lamp at the landing to serve that landing or a car running inan immediately adjacent hoistway arrives at the floor, whicheverearlier.

The above and other objects, features and advantages will be madeapparent by the detailed description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the operation of an elevator groupcontrol system according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIGS. 2 to 13 show an actual example of the invention as applied to anelevator system comprising three cars A, B and C serving lst to 10thfloors, among which;

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a detection circuit provided for car A fordetecting the spatial interval between car A and the succeeding car. alike circuit being provided for each of the other cars;

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a circuit for detecting the number of callsto be answered by car A, a like circuit being provided for each of theother cars;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a circuit for counting an average number ofcalls to be served by each of cars A to C;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a reference voltage generator circuit usedwith the comparator shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 shows a circuit for determining the time interval between car Aand other cars, a like circuit being provided for each of the remainingcars;

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a circuit for determining the service zoneof car A, a like circuit being provided for each of the remaining cars;

FIG. 8 is a circuit provided for each floor for prohibiting theanswering to a hall call subsequent to the determination of which car toserve the hall call;

FIG. 9 is a circuit provided for each floor for determining the order inwhich the three cars are to answer a hall call from that floor;

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a circuit provided for car A for making adecision to serve a hall call for car A, a like circuit being providedfor each of the other cars;

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a circuit for driving a guide lamp for carA, a like circuit being provided for each of the other cars;

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a detection circuitspecific to the present invention for detecting the direction of travelof car A and the nature of a hall call for car A, a like circuit beingprovided for each of the other cars;

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an embodiment of the reset circuit specificto the invention for registration and cancellation of a hall call, alike circuit being required for each of the other cars;

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing another embodiment of the circuit fordetecting the direction of travel of car A and the nature of a hall calltherefor. a like circuit being provided for each of the other cars; and

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a circuit provided for each floor forenergizing a guide lamp for each car group.

Prior to explaining the invention, a group elevator control system towhich the present invention is suitably applied will be brieflydescribed below.

The diagram of FIG. 1 is for explaining the operation of the groupcontrol system used with an elevator system comprising cars A to Cserving the first to 10th floors. The purpose of a group control systemis to effi ciently control the operation of all the cars included in thesystem by systematically relating the cars to each other. To achievethis purpose, such factors concerning the operating conditions of thecars as the intervals between cars and the number of floors to be servedby each car are detected to equalize them as far as possible. Further, aservice zone of each car which covers the floors expected to be servedby the particular car in response to hall calls from such floors isdetermined and changed at each moment in accordance with the operatingcondition of the car. Thus, a hall call originating from a floor istransmitted to a car having the service zone covering that floor,requiring it to serve the floor. In other words, the service Zone of acar is an important factor in making decision that that car is requiredto answer a hall call originating from within that service zone.

The service zone will be explained more in detail with reference toFIG. 1. As shown, car A is traveling up at the second floor, car Btraveling down at the ninth floor and car C traveling down at the secondfloor. The service zones of the cars include the floors as indicated byarrows respectively. Assuming that an up hall call is generated from theeighth floor, the hall call the origin of which is included in theservice zone of car A is transmitted to the control device for car A, sothat it is determined that car A is required to serve the hall call.This constitutes an effective means to determine early which of the carsis to answer a hall call. The car which was specified to serve the hallcall is indicated on the guide lamp on the floor from which the hallcall was originated, thus informing the prospective passenger which ofthe cars is to serve him.

The above-described elevator group control system as applied to thepresent invention will be explained with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3showing an embodiment. Prior to the explanation, certain terms used inthis specification will be defined as follows: An interval means aspatial interval between the physical positions of two given elevatorcars and/or time interval based on the number of floors to be served. Aposition signal means a signal representing physical or actual positionexpressed in the form of the floor number or distance and/or aprovisional position which is in advance of the corresponding actualposition. For instance, the provisional position of a car traveling upat the third floor may be the fourth, fifth and sixth floor depending onwhether it is running at low, medium or high speed, respectively.

It is also assumed in the embodiment under consider ation that cars A toC serve the first to 10th floors.

Referring to FIG. 2 showing a circuit for detecting the spatial intervalbetween car A and a succeeding car, reference symbols FIUA to F9UA showposition signals for car A in up travel indicating the first to ninthfloors respectively, symbols F2DA to FlODA position signals for car indown travel indicating the second to 10th floors respectively, symbolsFlUB to F9UB position signals for car B in up travel indicating thefirst to ninth floors respectively, symbols F2DB to FIODB positionsignals for car B in down travel indicating the second to 10th floors,symbols FlUC to F9UC position signals for car C in up travel indicatingthe first to ninth floors, symbols F2DC to FlODC position signals forcar C in down travel indicating the second to 10th floors respectively,sybmols OlUAl to 09UA2 and 02DAl to 010DA2 OR" elements, symbols IlUA toI9UA and I2DA to llODA inhibit elements, symbols r and r resistors andsymbol du a signal indicating the spatial interval between car A and thesucceeding car.

As shown in the drawing, the service floors FlU, F2D, F3D. F9D. F10D.F9U, F8U F2U and FlU are endlessly connected, through which positionsignals FIUA to F9UA and F2DA to FlODA are transmitted in sequence untilthey are interrupted by either a position signal of car B or that of carC when signal da representing an spatial interval is obtained fromsignals from each floor and the resistors r, and r It is assumed nowthat car A is traveling up at the eighth floor, car B traveling up atthe second floor and car C traveling down at the fifth floor, ear Bsuceeding car A. Position signal F8UA of car A is applied through F8UA,08UA1, I8UA, 07UA1 I3UA, 02UA1 and I2UA in that order. Position signalF2UB of car B which is in the state of l is applied through 02UA2 andI2UA thereby to prevent the output from being produced by the inhibitelement I2UA, so that no signal is applied to the following stages.

As will be noted from the above description, inhibit elements I8UA, I7UAI4UA and I3UA produce 1 signals and a signal corresponding to theposition signal representing the six floors is produced across theresistor r through the resistors 2', connected to the abovementionedinhibit elements, which signal constitutes signal da. In this case, ifthe value of r, is larger than that of r a signal in proportion to thenumber of floors is produced across the resistor 1' Referring to FIG. 3showing the circuit for detecting the number of hall calls to be servedby car A, reference symbols MlUA to M9UA and M2DA to MlODA are signalsrepresenting the floors to be served by car A, among which those signalscorresponding to hall calls or cage calls which have been generated areconverted into the state of 1. As in the circuit of FIG. 1, signal CAproportional to the number of calls to be served is obtained through theresistors r and r,,.

The circuit of FIG. 4 is provided for the purpose of calculating theaverage number of hall calls for each car by the calculating processesof addition and division of the number of hall calls to be served byeach car. Reference symbols CA to CC show signals representing thenumber of calls to be served by cars A to C respectively as calculatedby the circuit of FIG. 3., and symbols NOAl, NOA2, NOBI, N082, NOCI andNOC2 contacts adapted to be opened when cars A to C are released fromcontrolled operation respectively. Symbol R shows an operationalresistor and OP, an operational amplifier through which the polaritiesof input and output are reversed.

As long as cars A to C are in controlled operation. all of the contactsNOAI, NOAZ, NOBl, NOBZ, NOCI and NOC2 are closed. Let the call inputsfor cars A to C during such period be CA. CB and CC, then the output Cof the operational amplifier is expressed as -l ((14 CH CC) T (C4 CH('C) When car A is released from controlled operation,

By appropriately selecting the resistors Il /R adjustment is possible toobtain Vop of 6 volts.

When car A is released from controlled operation, on the other hand,contact NOA3 is closed and the output of the operational amplifier P2 isIn this case, also, it is possible to make V0 2 of 10 volts byappropriately selecting the value of resistor R In this way, the outputvoltage of the operational amplifier is appropriately divided by thevariable resistors R and R to obtain reference voltages V, and V. forthe comparator used in the circuit of FIG. 6. Thus, reference voltages Vand V are made 5 and 4 volts respectively when Vop is 6 volts. whereasthey are made 8.3 and 6.6 volts when Vop is 10 volts.

In FIG. 6 is shown a circuit for determining the interval between car Aand other cars, to which signals are applied from the circuits of FIGS.2 to 5. In the drawing under consideration, reference symbols OPAl andOPA2 show operational amplifiers, symbols CMAl and CMA2 comparators eachproducing a 1 signal when the sum of the two inputs thereto is zero orpositive, symbol NA a NOT element, symbol Il-I an inhibit element andsymbols EOA to E2A instruction signals to advance the position of car Ato a provisional position. signals EOA, EIA and E2A instructing theposition of car A to be advanced by zero, one and two floorsprovisionally, respectively.

The number CA of hall calls to be served by car A which is obtained fromthe circuit of FIG. 3 is subtracted from the average number C of hallcalls obtained from the circuit of FIG. 4, whereby the operationalamplifier OPAI produces an output In like manner, the operationalamplifier OPA2 produces an output Vo Vop Appropriate selection of theratio of R7A to R9A permits the car interval of one floor to correspondto, say, 1 volt, and one hall call to, say, 3 volts. This is equal tosay that the time intervals of the cars are calculated by appropriatelyadjusting the balance between the weight of the spatial intervals andthat of the number of hall calls. From equation (3),

It will be readily understood that when the number of hall calls to beanswered is equal to the average number of hall calls, the first term isequal to the second term on the right side of equation (5 and thereforeV01) K. ,IA. On the other hand, when the number of hall calls to beserved by car A is more than the average number of hall calls by one,

By contrast, if the number of hall calls to be served by car A is lessthan that of the average number of hall calls by one,

Thus the time interval of cars as related to the number of hall calls isobtained.

Assume, for example, that the spatial interval between car A and asucceeding car is six floors and the number of hall calls for car A ismore than the average number of hall calls by one.

If reference voltages of 5 and 4 volts are used as V and V applied tothe comparators CMAl and CMA2 respectively, the comparator CMAI whichreceives the reference voltage of 5 volts in addition to the input of 3volts produces a 1 signal, while on the other hand the comparator CMA2on receipt of the reference voltage of 4 volts in addition to the inputof -3 volts also produces a 1 signal. The instruction signal E2A toadvance the car position becomes 1, while the instruction signals EIAand EOA are both brought into the state of because the inhibit elementIH produces no output on one hand and a 1 signal is applied to the NOTelement NA on the other.

When Vop is the comparator CMAl the two inputs of which are -5 and 5volts produces a l signal, while the comparator CMA2 produces no outputor is in the state of O on receipt of inputs of 5 and 4 volts. In thisway, the time intervals between cars are determined by the comparatorsCMAI and CMA2 and the corresponding instructions EOA to E2A are producedto advance the positions of the cars as required.

The diagrams of FIGS. 7 to 9 show a circuit for determining the servicezone of car A on the basis of the position signal and interval signalobtained for car A. In the drawings, reference symbols AlUAl to A9UA3and A2DA1 to A10DA3 show AND elements, OIUA3 to O9UA5 and O2DA3 toOIODAS OR elements, IN- lUAl to IN9UA3 and IN2DA1 to IN10DA3 inhibitelements, symbols 1U to 9U and 2D to 10D inhibition signals producedfrom the OR elements as shown typically in FIG. 9, symbols MlU to M9Uand M2D to MlOD inhibition signals typically produced as shown in FIG.7, symbols LIUA to L9UA and L2DA to LIODA signals representing servicezones of car A and are applied to the circuit of FIG. 10.

In the above-mentioned arrangement, let us consider a hypothetical casein which the position advancing instruction signals EOA and 1508 areboth in the state of l for cars A and B respectively which are locatedat the second and 10th floors and traveling up and down respectively,car C being located at the fifth floor for down travel.

The fact that car A is situated at the 2nd floor and the instructionsignal EOA is 1 causes a 1 signal to be produced from the AND elementA2UA1, which signal is applied through the OR elements O2UA3, O2UA5 andinhibit elements IN2UA2 and IN2UA3 in that order. The signal from the ORelement O2UA5 is applied through the inhibit element IN2UA2 to theinhibit element IN3UAI for the third floor, then up to the correspondinginhibit element for the seventh floor (not shown). The output signalfrom the seventh-floor inhibit element is applied to the inhibit elementIN8UA1 wherefrom it is applied through O8UA5, IN8UA2, IN- 9UA1, O9UA5,IN9UA2 and INIODAl. This signal causes the output signals of inhibitelements IN2UA3, IN9UA3 to become I. The signal from the OR elementO2UA3, on the other hand, is applied to the OR element O2UA4 andproduced from the circuit as shown in FIG. 9 in the form of inhibitionsignal 2U. Under this condition. only the output from the OR elementO2UA3 is applied to the OR element O2UA4 for car A, from which thesignal is applied to the OR element O2UB4 and the inhibit elementIN2UB2, while the output of the OR element O2UB4 is applied to the ORelement O2UC4 and inhibit element IN2UC2 for car. The output signal fromthe OR element O2UC4 is transformed into the inhibition signal 2U, whichis applied to the inhibit elements IN2UA1, IN2UB1 and IN2UC1 as aninhibition input thereto as shown in FIG. 7.

In the event that cars A to C are traveling up at the 2nd floor, theinhibit elements IN2UA2, IN2UB2 and IN2UC2 are prohibited from producingtheir outputs in that or order of priority. In the described case, thesignal from the OR element O2UA3 for car A becomes 1 and is applied asan inhibition signal 2U to the inhibit element IN2UCI to put the outputof the inhibit element O2UA3 into the state of 0. v I

Similarly, the down travel of car B at the 10th floor causes theinhibition signal 10D to become 1, so that the output of the inhibitelement INIODAI for car A is brought into the state of O. The outputsignals L2UA to L9UA from the inhibit elements IN2UA3 to IN- 9UA3 becomeI. These signals L2UA to L9UA represent the service zone of car Acovering the second floor up to the ninth floor up. Under thiscondition, the service zones of cars B and C respectively include the10th floor down to the sixth floor down and the fifth floor down to thefirst floor up.

Singlas LlUA to L9UA and L2DA to LlODA thus obtained are applied to thecircuit of FIG. 10 for deciding on the response to hall calls, for carA.

Referring to FIG. 10, the signals LlUA to L9UA and L2DA to LIODA incombination with hall calls cause the response decision relays RylUA toRy9UA and Ry2DA to RylODA to be energized through the amplifier elementsRIUA to R9UA and R2DA to RlODA respectively. Contacts HC1Ua2 to HC9Ua2and HC2DUa2 to HCl0DUa2 are closed by the registration of correspondinghall calls.

The diagram of FIG. 11 shows a guide lamp energizing circuit providedfor the purpose of informing the prospective passenger of expected carservice by turn ing on the guide lamps SIUA to S9UA and SZDA to SlODA onthe landings of the floors in response to the energization of relaysRylUA to Ry9UA and Ry2DA to RylODA respectively.

Assume that car A is charged with the service zone of the second floorup to the ninth floor up and an up hall call from the eighth floor isregistered. Signals L2UA to L9UA are in the state of l, and the contactHC8Ua2 is closed. A loop comprising L8UA, R8UA, Ry8UA, HC8Ua2 and P isformed thereby to energize the response decision relay RySUA. Thus it isdecided that car A answer to the hall call. so that the signal from therelay RySUA is transmitted not only to the control device for car A butthe guide lamp energizing circuit as shown in FIG. 11. The contactRySUAal is closed thereby to turn on the guide lamp S8UA on theeighthfloor landing for car A, thus informing the prospective passengerthat car A is ready to answer the up hall call from the eighth floor.

Explanation will be made now of the circuits shown in FIGS. 12 and 13which incorporate the features of the invention. The circuit of FIG. 12is for determining, in response to a hall call or cage call, thedirection of travel of car A and the nature of a call generated at thetime of deceleration and stoppage, while the circuit shown in FIG. 13 isfor registration and cancellation of a hall call for car A, similarcircuits being required for cars B and C as will be easily noted fromthe description which will be made later. In the drawings, referencesymbol PN shows a DC power supply, symbol UDA a relay for deciding onthe up travel of car A, symbol DDA a relay for deciding the down travelof car A, symbols UPAb and DNAb contacts b of relays closed when car Ais traveling up and, down respectively, symbol CSTA a relay fordetecting the stoppage of car A in response to a cage call, symbols USTAand DSTA relays turned on by the stoppage of car A in response to a hallcall during its up and down travel respectively, symbol STA a relaycontact energized when car A is decelerated or stopped. symbols FlAaI toF10Aa2 and FlAbl to FlAb3 contacts a and b of relays which are energizedwhen car A is located at the lst to lOth floors respectively, symbolsRylUAa to RylODAa contacts of the response decision relays RylUA toRylODA respectively shown in FIG. 10, symbols rlU to r9U and r2D to rlODresistors, symbols HlU to H9U up hall call buttons provided at the firstto ninth floors respectively, symbols H2D to HIOD down hall call buttonsprovided at the second to th floors respectively, symbols I-IClU to HC9Uand HCZD to HClOD call registration relays energized in response to theoperation of the hall call buttons HlU to H9U and H2D to HIODrespectively, symbols HClUa to I-IC9Ua and HCZDa to I-IClODa contacts ofthe call registration relays I-IClU to HC9U and I-IC2D to HClODrespectively, and symbol No. B, C the fact that similar hall callregistration cancellation circuits for cars B and C are not shown in thedrawing.

When a cage call for the ninth floor is issued from within car A in uptravel at the 1st floor and the position detecting relay FlA (not shown)is turned on, the up travel decision relay UDA is turned on through theformation of a loop comprising P, DNAb, UDA, FIOAbl, Fl0Ab2, F10Ab3,F9Ab1, F9Ab2, C9A and N. Upon the deceleration of car A in the vicinityof the ninth floor in response to the cage call for the ninth floor, thecage call service relay CSTA is turned on through P, STA, CSTA, F9Aa2,C9A and N and selfheld through P, STA, CSTA, CSTAa and N, therebydeciding that the ninth floor is being served in response to the cagecall. In like manner, when a hall call instead of a cage call is issuedfor up or down travel, the relay USTA or DSTA is turned on respectively,thus recognizing the nature of the call issued at the time of cardeceleration, as will be described more fully later.

Explanation will be made now of the operation of the hall callregistration and cancellation circuits shown in FIG. 13.

Referring again to FIG. 12, the hall call registration relay HC9U isturned on through the loop consisting of P, r9U, HC9U, H9U and N andselfheld through the loop consisting of P, r9U, HC9U, HC9Ua, and N atthe press of the hall call button H9U for up travel at the ninth floor.At this moment, assume that car A has the service zone of up travelcovering the 2nd to 9th floors and signals L2UA to L9UA in FIG. 6 are l.The formation of the loop comprising L9UA, R9UA, Ry9UA, HC9Ua and P inFIG. 10 causes the response decision relay Ry9UA to be turned on, sothat the guide lamp S9UA of FIG. 1 is turned on through the loopcomprising 60, S9UA, RyQUAa, and 00 and acts on the circuit of FIG. 12.The up travel decision relay UDA for car A is turned on through the loopcomprising P, DNAb UDA, FlOAa FlOAb Fl0Ab F9Ab Ry9UAa and N thereby todetect the presence of a hall call issued from an upper floor. When carA moves up farther and is decelerated in response to a signal from theresponse decision relay Ry9UA, the up hall call service relay USTA isturned on through the loop consisting of P, STA, DNAb USTA, DSTAb, F9Aa,, Ry9UAa and N and self-held by way of the loop consisting of P,STA, DNAb USTA, DSTAb, USTAa, and N. With the energization of the uphall call service relay USTA, the coils of the call registration relayHC9U are short- IJI circuited by way of the loop comprising P, r9U,F9Aa,, USTAaand N. As a result, the call registration relay HC9U isturned off thereby to de-energize the response decision relay Ry9UAshown in FIG. 10. In other words, upon completion of service to theprospective passenger by the car indicated to him, the registered hallcall by him was cancelled.

It will made apparent from the above explanation that the registrationcancellation circuits for cars B and C the presence of which is shown bysymbol No. B, C in FIG. 13 comprises, like the registration cancellationcircuit for car A or the circuit for short-circuiting the callregistration relays HClU to HC9U and HCZD to HC 10D, contacts ofposition detecting relays and contacts of up hall call service relaysand down hall call service relays.

Consider a case in which car A receives an up hall call, while car Barrives earlier than car A at the ninth floor in response to a cage callissued therein. As will be apparent from FIGS. 12 and 13, the responsedecision relay Ry9UB for car B is not energized because it did notanswer the hall call. The up hall call service relay USTB for car Bsimilar to the circuit of FIG. 12 is not energized and therefore thecircuit for shortcircuiting the hall call registration relay HC9Usimilar to that shown in FIG. 13 is not formed, thus maintaining thehall call registration relay HC9U energized.

As can be seen from the above explanation, according to the controlsystem of the invention, a hall call remains registered until the carthe expected service of which is indicated to the prospective passengerin response to the hall call has arrived at the floor on which he iswaiting. It does not matter whether the prospective passenger actuallytakes car A or not. But the important thing is to assure him that car Awill stop at his floor without fail for his service. This offers a bigadvantage of superior elevator service taking into consideration thepsycological state of the prospective passenger. Repeated changes in thecar service schedule at a given floor is an adverse factor in the cararrival forccasting system, giving rise to disbelief on the part ofprospective passengers. Such disadvantage is obviated by the presentinvention.

Other embodiments of the circuit for determining the direction of travelof car A and the circuit for determining the nature of a call issuedduring the deceleration and stoppage of car A are disclosed in FIG. 14.Unlike the preceding embodiment in which the registration of a hall callis cancelled only by the deceleration and stoppage of a car the expectedservice of which is indicated to the prospective passenger in responseto the hall call, the embodiment under consideration is such that thedeceleration and stoppage of the car involved or a car in the adjacenthoistway, whichever arrives earlier, causes the registration of the hallcall from that floor to be cancelled. This is based on the self-evidenttheory that if, say, car B adjacent to car A arrives earlier at thecalling floor in response to a cage call in spite of the fact that theexpected service by car A has been indicated to the prospectivepassenger waiting at that floor, he will most probably take car Bdisregarding the indication of expected arrival of car A, with theresult that car A stops at the calling floor for nothing at thesacrifice of the operating efficiency of car A and superior car groupcontrol.

In FIG. 14, like symbols show like component elements as in FIG. 12. Itis also assumed that cars A and B are running along adjacent hoistways.The contacts RylUBa to Ry9UBa and Ry2DBato RylDBa of the responsedecision relays RyiUB to Ry9UB and RyZDB to RylODB for car B areconnected in parallel with the contacts RylUAa to Ry9UAa and Ry2DAa toRyl0DAa of the response decision relays RylUA to Ry9UA and Ry2DA toRylODA for energizing the up hall call service relay USTA and the downhall call service relay DSTA respectively. The circuit for deciding thenature of a call for car B is also provided with the contacts of theresponse decision relay of car A.

Assume that the up hall call button H9U of the ninth floor in FIG. 13 isdepressed so that the hall call registration relay HC9U is self-held andit was decided that car B is to respond to the hall call. The responsedecision relay Ry9UB for car B is energized thereby to close the contactRy9UBa Under this condition, if car A arrives at the 9th floor earlierthan car B for up travel because of a cage call issued in the cage ofcar B, the formation of the loop comprising P, STA, CSTA, F9Aa C9A and Nin FIG. 14 causes the cage call ser vice relay CSTA to be energized andself-held. At the same time, the loop comprising P, STA, DNAb, USTA,DSTAb, F9Aa Ry9UBa and N is formed thereby to energize the up hall callservice relay USTA. As a result, in spite of the fact that car Bindicated for response has yet to arrive at the ninth floor, thecancellation loop comprising P, r9U, F9Aa USTAa and N as shown in FIG.13 is formed thereby to reset the hall call registration relay HC9U, andthe response decision relay Ry9UB for car B is also reset to prevent carB from stopping at the ninth floor.

As can be noted from the above explanation, a hall call is cancelledalso when a car running in the hoistway adjacent to that of the car theexpected service of which has been indicated to the prospectivepassenger arrives earlier. This embodiment is applied also to the casewhere adjacent cars are on both sides of the car the expected responseof which is indicated, by providing another response decision relay.

The circuit shown in FIG. 15 is provided for the purpose of turning on aguide lamp common to a group of cars. For example, a guide lamp S2UABcommon to cars A and B is provided for up travel at the second floor, alike guide lamp being required for each floor for each direction oftravel. Reference symbols Ry- 2UAa to RyZUCa, show contacts of theresponse decision relays RyZUA to RyZUC for cars A to C respectively.

In view of the fact that cars A and B have a common guide lamp, even ifit has been decided that car A respond to the hall call, the arrival ofcar B earlier than car A at the calling floor in response to a cage callfrom within car 8 will causes the prospective passenger to take car B inthe belief that car B has responded to his call. This eliminates theneed for the service by car A and requires the hall call to becancelled. In other words, the guide lamp used in this case has thefunctions to forecast the arrival of either car A or car B, andtherefore the guide lamp must be reset upon completion of service by carA or B, while it is required to be maintained ON even if a car otherthan cars A and B arrives at the calling floor.

The present invention is obviously applied with equal effect to suchcase as mentioned above. Even though the circuit of FIG. 14 is directlyapplied to a car group including a couple of cars, the application ofthe same circuit to a group involving more than two cars requiresparallel provision of additional response decision relay contact.

In the above-mentioned embodiment with a common guide lamp for aplurality of cars, a service zone for each car is defined, a car torespond to a hall call specified and then a common guide lamp for thegroup including the specified car is turned on thereby to inform theprospective passenger of the expected arrival of the car. It is notnecessary, however, to specify a car to respond to a hall call, but itsuffices only if a car group ready to serve the hall call is determinedto turn on the common guide lamp for that group. An elevator groupcontrol system incorporating such operating principle was alreadydisclosed, and the present invention is applied to such system withequal effect in such a manner that only the arrival of a car included ina group indicated on the common guide lamp causes a hall callregistration to be cancelled, while it remains uncancelled even on thearrival of a car belonging to another car group.

In addition to the above-described embodiments, the present invention isapplied with equal effect to every elevator system comprising aplurality of cars or car groups serving a plurality of floors.

The circuit for recognizing the nature of a call and the circuit forregistration and cancellation of a hall call to achieve the objects ofthe invention are not confined to those mentioned above but may bepresented in various forms.

Although the above explanation was made with reference to an elevatorgroup control system in which the operation of each elevator car issystematically correlated by detecting such factors as the intervalsbetween cars and the number of calls to be served to achieve theimproved operating efficiency of an elevator system including aplurality of cars, the present invention is not limited to such groupcontrol system but may be applied with equal effect to a system in whichthe circuits of FIGS. 2 to 6 are omitted and the position advancingsignals EOA to E3A are not figured out. In such a case, the positionsignals FIUA to F9UA and F2DA to FIODA for car A are directly applied tothe OR elements OlUA3 to O9UA3 and O2DA3 to OIODA3 shown in FIG. 7.

Further, the invention is applied to a case in which instead ofspecifying a car on the basis of the service zone thereof, a carsituated the nearest to the calling floor is specified as a car toanswer the hall call from that floor and indicated on the guide lamp onthat floor.

What is claimed is:

1. An elevator control system comprising a plurality of elevator carsserving a plurality of floors, means for registering a hall call from aprospective passenger, means responsive to said registering means forselecting a car or car group to answer said hall call, means fordirecting said selected car to proceed to and stop at the floor fromwhich the hall call originated, means responsive to said selecting meansfor informing a prospective passenger waiting on the landing of a floorat which the specified car or car group will respond to the hall callfrom the prospective passenger, means for detecting the deceleration orstoppage of the car selected by said selecting means at the floor fromwhich the hall call was originated, and means for cancelling theregistration in said registering means of said hall call from said flooronly in response to said detector means detecting deceleration orstoppage of that car at said floor.

2. An elevator control system according to claim 1, in which said meansfor detecting the deceleration or stoppage of a car the expected serviceof which the pro speetive passenger waiting at the calling floor isinformed of includes for each car, means for detecting the floor wherethe car is deeelerated and means for detecting floors the hall call fromwhich the ear is required to answer, and AND means to which the outputsfrom said two means are applied.

3. An elevator control system according to claim 1, in which said meansfor detecting the deceleration or stoppage of a specified car includesmeans for detecting the deceleration or stoppage of a car in thehoistway adjacent to that of a car the expected service of which theprospective passenger waiting at the floor from which the hall call wasoriginated is informed of.

4. An elevator control system according to claim 3, in which said meansfor detecting the deceleration or stoppage of a car in the adjacenthoistway includes for each car a means for detecting the floor where thecar is deeelerated and means for detecting floors the hall call fromwhich the car in the adjacent hoistway has responded, and AND means towhich the outputs from said two means are applied for logical operation.

5. An elevator control system according to claim 1, in which said meansfor detecting the deceleration or stoppage of a specified car includesmeans for detecting the deceleration or stoppage of the specified car ora car in the adjacent hoistway.

6. An elevator control system according to claim 5, in which said meansfor detecting the deceleration or stoppage of cars includes means fordetecting the floor the hall call from which was answered by thespecified car and means for detecting the floor the hall call from whichthe car in the adjacent hoistway has answered, OR means to which theoutputs from said two means are applied, means for detecting the floorat which one of said cars is deeelerated or stopped, and AND means towhich the outputs from the last-mentioned detector means and said ORmeans are applied.

7. An elevator control system according to claim 1, in which said meansfor detecting the deceleration or stoppage of a specified car includesmeans for detecting the deceleration or stoppage of a car included inthe car group of which the prospective passenger waiting at the callingfloor is informed.

8. An elevator control system according to claim 7, in which said meansfor detecting the deceleration or stoppage ofa car includes means fordetecting the floor at which the car included in the car group isdecelerated or stopped and means for detecting the floor the hall callfrom which the car group has responded, both of said floor detectingmeans being provided for each car group, and AND means to which theoutputs from said two detector means are applied.

1. An elevator control system comprising a plurality of elevator carsserving a plurality of floors, means for registering a hall call from aprospective passenger, means responsive to said registering means forselecting a car or car group to answer said hall call, means fordirecting said selected car to proceed to and stop at the floor fromwhich the hall call originated, means responsive to said selecting meansfor informing a prospective passenger waiting on the landing of a floorat which the specified car or car group will respond to the hall callfrom the prospective passenger, means for detecting the deceleration orstoppage of the car selected by said selecting means at the floor fromwhich the hall call was originated, and means for cancelling theregistration in said registering means of said hall call from said flooronly in reSponse to said detector means detecting deceleration orstoppage of that car at said floor.
 2. An elevator control systemaccording to claim 1, in which said means for detecting the decelerationor stoppage of a car the expected service of which the prospectivepassenger waiting at the calling floor is informed of includes for eachcar, means for detecting the floor where the car is decelerated andmeans for detecting floors the hall call from which the car is requiredto answer, and AND means to which the outputs from said two means areapplied.
 3. An elevator control system according to claim 1, in whichsaid means for detecting the deceleration or stoppage of a specified carincludes means for detecting the deceleration or stoppage of a car inthe hoistway adjacent to that of a car the expected service of which theprospective passenger waiting at the floor from which the hall call wasoriginated is informed of.
 4. An elevator control system according toclaim 3, in which said means for detecting the deceleration or stoppageof a car in the adjacent hoistway includes for each car a means fordetecting the floor where the car is decelerated and means for detectingfloors the hall call from which the car in the adjacent hoistway hasresponded, and AND means to which the outputs from said two means areapplied for logical operation.
 5. An elevator control system accordingto claim 1, in which said means for detecting the deceleration orstoppage of a specified car includes means for detecting thedeceleration or stoppage of the specified car or a car in the adjacenthoistway.
 6. An elevator control system according to claim 5, in whichsaid means for detecting the deceleration or stoppage of cars includesmeans for detecting the floor the hall call from which was answered bythe specified car and means for detecting the floor the hall call fromwhich the car in the adjacent hoistway has answered, OR means to whichthe outputs from said two means are applied, means for detecting thefloor at which one of said cars is decelerated or stopped, and AND meansto which the outputs from the last-mentioned detector means and said ORmeans are applied.
 7. An elevator control system according to claim 1,in which said means for detecting the deceleration or stoppage of aspecified car includes means for detecting the deceleration or stoppageof a car included in the car group of which the prospective passengerwaiting at the calling floor is informed.
 8. An elevator control systemaccording to claim 7, in which said means for detecting the decelerationor stoppage of a car includes means for detecting the floor at which thecar included in the car group is decelerated or stopped and means fordetecting the floor the hall call from which the car group hasresponded, both of said floor detecting means being provided for eachcar group, and AND means to which the outputs from said two detectormeans are applied.